.Exciting New Journeys.

This past week I received lots of good news so I thought I would share it here.  First, this past winter I was part of a group of grad students researching "high risk" college students, trying to come up with ways to better integrate and prepare them for their freshman year in the hopes of improving the retention rate at our school.  These "high risk" students are often defined by several factors: first-generation, low ACT/SAT scores, students with low GPA, and low-income.  Over the course of a few months (which included lots of reading, researching, and wrestling with program ideas) we came up with what has now been called the "Wright State Academy."  The Pilot of this program will begin in August and go for five weeks, ending in September.  One of the other TAs and myself were given the positions as instructors for this program and I'm super excited about it! Not only will it be a fun, enriching experience, it's also going to look great on the resume!

Second, as you might have read in some of my recent posts, I've been working with a program downtown tutoring refugees from different parts of Africa.  One morning, after sharing my experiences with my ENG 102 class, I decided I would try to incorporate it in my ENG 101 classes next quarter.  I got the ball rolling by asking permission from our TA advisor and then setting up a meeting with the service-learning office at our school.  Within a few hours (literally, I got emails back within moments) I started the planning process, trying to figure out the logistics of having freshmen tutoring refugees in English.  I think it's going to be such a life-changing experience for these students (it certainly has been for me!) and I'm so excited to share it with them.

Needless to say, over the next couple of months I will probably be writing about my experiences, both of planning and undertaking both of these new journeys, and I know I have a lot more to read and learn about refugees and service-learning so I hope to share it here. Right now I've got a service-learning tutorial to attend in June and I'm excited about looking for reading material for my students since the whole class will be centered around the refugee experience.  Already I've been considering A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and What Is the What by Dave Eggars.

In other news, I'm really going to miss my ENG 102 students once this quarter is over (which is in another week) but I'm very excited about summer break.  They've definitely been a breath of fresh air after the uninterested, unmotivated class I had last quarter and I've enjoyed getting to know them and read their argument papers.  I had them write me (Dear "Mrs. M.") letters again and we all seemed to enjoy it!  And for their argument papers they definitely chose topics they were passionate about and engaged in.  This past week I had them present 3-5 minute Creative Argument Projects (CAPs) on their chosen topics and they've done some fabulous work using Prezi, MovieMaker, and PowerPoint.   

Also, this coming week for our last meeting of the Writing and Social Activism class we're throwing a block party for the African refugees in their neighborhood.  I talked about it a little bit in a previous post, and I can't believe it's here already.  I'll definitely share pictures and a follow-up.  Oh, and I'll let you know what goat tastes like...should be interesting!